As electric vehicles (EVs) grow in popularity, there are greater questions being asked about how to charge them:
Will there be enough charging points? What about if I can’t plug in at home? Range and battery charging times are getting better every year, it’s still the most limiting factor when it comes to the purchase of an EV. These are valid questions, but a German company might just have the answer thanks to a new concrete road that is able to charge EVs as they drive along.
Some examples of electric roads already tested, are so far:
• Stockholm, Sweden: 2018 an electric rail was installed down the middle of a 1.2-mile stretch of road. It can transfer power to a vehicle via a moveable arm attached to its bottom.
• Gotland Island, Israel (Baltic Sea): An inductive charging system built by Israeli firm ElectReon has been used to successfully charge an all-electric truck on a one-mile stretch.
• Frankfurt, Germany: A string charging wires above the road that can charge trucks in much the same way urban trams are powered. The system, built by German engineering giant Siemens, has been installed on about 3 miles of road outside Frankfurt and is being tested by several trucking companies.
• California, USA: 2020: Aptera Motors took pre-orders for an electric car that’s partly solar powered
According to Magment—the contracted German firm GmbH in charge of designing and installing the technology—Instead of installing thousands of miles of copper under the road as is typically done, which is fairly costly, the solution is to embed standard concrete with recycled ferrite particles (a ceramic-like material with magnetic properties that are useful in many types of electronic devices). This will be able to generate a magnetic field with considerably less expense. The way the roads are made with the inclusion of ferrite particles can be manufactured locally, reducing costs further. The company claims its product can achieve transmission efficiency of up to 95% and can be built at “standard road-building installation costs”.
Joe McGuinness, Commissioner-Indiana Division of Transportation (INDOT) said, said in a statement, “As electric vehicles become more widely used, demand for reliable, convenient charging infrastructure continues to grow, and the need to innovate is clear. We’re excited to partner with Purdue and Magment to explore incorporating wireless charging technology into highway infrastructure.”
The project is part of the Advancing Sustainability through Power Infrastructure for Road Electrification (ASPIRE) Initiative, an Engineering Research Center funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and involves the collaboration of universities, government laboratories, businesses, and other stakeholders developing next-generation charging technologies for the electrification of transportation vehicles of all classes.
Expected to take 3 phases, the work will begin in late summer 2021, according to Magment. Developed alongside the INDOT, the system works by:
• Burying electrified wire coils into the concrete road
• Creates a magnetic field
• Works in a similar way to how the best wireless smartphone charging plates work
• Vehicles will then be fitted with a receiver coil
• As the car drives along, is able to pick up the charge and draw electricity from the coils
Completed in 3 phases, with the first stage expected to begin later summer, 2021. Magment—the company specialized in wireless induction & working alongside INDOT, will be creating the road, says it will be the world’s first wireless charging concrete highway once it’s up and running.
Phases 1 and 2 of the project will feature pavement testing, analysis, and optimization research conducted by the Joint Transportation Research Program (JTRP) at Purdue’s West Lafayette campus. The project will take place on pavements, before a quartermile-long testbed of highway is introduced on a road in Phase 3. Also in the final phase, INDOT plans to test the capacity of the streets to charge heavy electric trucks operating at high power of at least 200 kilowatts.
If proven successful, the technology will be used by INDOT to electrify segments of public interstate in the state of Indiana. It goes without saying that the PHASE 3 is going to be its most arduous for Magment, but if it is successful and if the cost savings turn out to be genuine, the approach could be a game-changer!! This will make Indiana possibly the first state in the Union to have a wireless charging road that tops up your electric vehicle as you drive along it—we could be looking towards a brighter future for electric vehicles and this planet as a whole.
Eric J. Holcomb, Governor-Indiana, said: “Indiana is known as ‘the Crossroads of America’ and we’re committed to fortifying our position as a transportation leader by innovating to support the emerging vehicle technology. INDOT has decided to tackle that by burying electrified wire coils that create a magnetic field along the road surface, mimicking the way wireless charging stations for tablets and phones are designed.
“This partnership to develop wireless charging technology for highways sends a strong signal that Indiana is on the leading edge of delivering the infrastructure needed to support the adoption of electric vehicles,” Governor Holcomb said.
For the Motors-UK Online article, please go to: https://news.motors.co.uk/german-company-creates-concrete-roads-that-can-charge-evs-as-they-drive-along/
For the INDOT report titled “INDOT, Purdue to Develop Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging Solution for Highway Infrastructure”, please go to: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/INDOT/bulletins/2e63ee8
For the Good News Network online article titled “German Company Makes Concrete to Charge Electric Vehicles From Roads With 95% Efficiency and Low Cost”, please go to: www.goodnewsnetwork.org/german-firm-looks-to-build-wireless-ev-charging-road-in-indiana/
For the SIngularityHub online article titled “Magnetizable Concrete in Roads Could Charge Electric Cars While You Drive”, please go to: https://singularityhub.com/2021/08/09/magnetizable-concrete-in-roads-could-charge-electric-cars-while-you-drive/?utm_campaign=SU%20Hub%20Daily%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=148264952&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8ZAnFcEerqBFdG-IMzR6BHgaHiFEXr5-EwT6YlGnRTcdtA8QiS6nRph3DEehfoRuFuw0VexNzfJtd9k4vn7HDdOyDZFA&utm_content=148264952&utm_source=hs_email
For the India Times online article titled “Researchers Are Working On Creating Concrete That Can Charge Electric Vehicles While They Run On It”, please go to: www.indiatimes.com/technology/news/researchers-testing-concrete-that-can-charge-electric-vehicles-547507.html
(Home photo: https://news.motors.co.uk/smmt-considers-asking-for-evs-to-be-exempt-from-vat/)